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#2 Yes Glen, the political diversion and 'Place de la Bastille' nationalism and pride are a factor of course. In a more direct manner however, the French economy still has strong tethers to their former African colonies, most notably in Chad. It will be interesting to see how the French engage this conflict. I doubt it will be the hearts and minds, nation building image of our Afghan experience. The French are not resourced, nor do they have the military industrial complex necessary to play with the nasty hond. They must put him down and move on. I wish them well.

#3 Glen: partly, perhaps. But more likely is the fear of being overrun by refugees and/or radicalization among immigrants already in the banlieus. AQIM (Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb) used to be the Groupe Salafiste pour la Prédication et le Combat in Algeria, before they announced an affiliation with the larger Al Qaeda network and laid claim to all of north Africa (2007) and began working with Tuaregs to capture Europeans in Libya (2009). The French have in one way or another been pushing back on them for many years.